Raj: BJP moves HC, seeks direction to Speaker on resignations by Gehlot loyalists

PTI, Dec 1, 2022, 7:32 PM IST

Deputy leader of Opposition in Rajasthan Assembly Rajendra Rathore on Thursday moved the high court, asking it to direct the Speaker to take a decision on the resignations submitted by more than 90 ruling Congress MLAs.

Rathore, who is the BJP MLA from Churu constituency, also demanded to make public the names of the MLAs who have submitted their resignations and to restrain them from participating in the proceedings of the House.

More than 90 Congress MLAs, including ministers, loyal to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot had on September 25 submitted their resignation to Assembly speaker C P Joshi.

They were opposing the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting called to determine Gehlot’s successor as the chief minister, as he was the frontrunner for the post of Congress president.

A delegation of BJP leaders led by leader of the opposition Gulab Chand Kataria had met the Speaker on October 18 and requested him to accept the resignations.

”I have filed a PIL and will myself argue in the court and try to get the resignations accepted. If the resignations are not accepted, then the speaker should clarify the reasons for not accepting them,” he told reporters after filing the Public Interest Litigation (PIL).

”We had requested the Speaker to decide on the resignation through a representation. After that, I also gave three letters. The resignations were not taken forcibly and with what moral authority, the ministers, who had given resignations, are attending cabinet meetings? The question is whether the government is in majority when 91 MLAs have resigned?” he said.

Union minister of state for parliamentary affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal said it is for the first time in the history of parliamentary democracy that the MLAs willingly gave resignations but the Speaker was not accepting them.

”This all happened because of the division in the Congress party. A one-liner resolution was to be passed in the (CLP) meeting against which the resignations were given. The government is divided into two factions and there is resentment among the people,” Meghwal said while addressing the BJP’s ‘Jan Aakrosh Rally’ here.